CONFERENCE OF SPECIES at the Mannheim Art Association: Seeing Humans and Animals Anew
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When humans and animals meet at eye level
With the exhibition CONFERENCE OF SPECIES, Hartmut Kiewert invites visitors at the Mannheim Art Association to an intense examination of the social relationship between humans and animals. The contemporary figurative painting of the Leipzig artist combines aesthetic experience with social reflection and offers an artistic experience that sustainably shifts familiar perspectives.
Figurative painting as a counter-image to the anthropocentric view
Hartmut Kiewert, born in 1980 in Koblenz, initially studied architecture and then painting and graphics at the Burg Giebichenstein University of Art and Design Halle. He graduated with distinction in 2010. Since 2008, he has dedicated himself to the societal human-animal relationship and develops imagery in which pigs, cows, and chickens do not appear as objects, but as independent individuals.
Kiewert's paintings design counter-images to a handling of non-human animals characterized by exploitation and displacement. Parks, streets, interiors, and everyday situations become open social spaces, where the usual hierarchy between humans and animals is challenged. The exhibition makes this perspective sensibly tangible and connects art historical analysis with questions of animal ethics and cultural education.
Calm image spaces, strong social questions
The clearly composed scenes develop their effect from the tension between familiar surroundings and unusual encounters. Oil painting, muted color areas, precise forms, and a concentrated spatial effect draw the viewer's attention to the depicted bodies and their relationships. Animals appear as actors and as subjects of their own lives; humans no longer meet them from an apparently superior position.
Works like Large Picnic II, Pink Sofa or the works of the series Beach open imaginary spaces of possible coexistence. The motifs initially seem calm and almost self-evident. It is precisely this silent language of images that creates resonance: It raises the question of what a world could look like in which humans and other animals encounter each other with empathy, attention, and social recognition.
Art historical context and aesthetic experience
Kiewert's position stands in the tradition of figurative and socially critical painting, but expands this with a power-critical perspective on speciesism and the animal industry. His works combine vivid everyday images with ethical reflections on nature, culture, and power. The result is not a naive utopia, but a visual investigation of possible relationships between the species.
The exhibition atmosphere at the Mannheim Art Association creates space for slow contemplation. Light, materiality, and rhythm of the images support a concentrated encounter with the paintings. Between painting, installation, and cultural education, an aesthetic experience arises that appeals to both art-interested visitors and guests without art historical background.
An artistic experience with social relevance
The Mannheim Art Association accompanies the exhibition with guided tours and walks. A publication for the exhibition gathers texts by Prof. Dr. Jessica Ullrich and a preface by Dr. Friedrich W. Kasten. Kiewert's works have previously been shown, among others, at the Citadel Berlin, the Cubus Art Hall Duisburg, the Museum of Modern Art Bremen, and at Art Karlsruhe.
CONFERENCE OF SPECIES awaits visitors as a concentrated exhibition on empathy, responsibility, and the future of coexistence. Those wishing to experience contemporary figurative painting, animal ethics, and socially critical art in an atmospheric exhibition space will find diverse reasons for examining the works here. A visit to the Mannheim Art Association enriches cultural perception and opens new perspectives on the relationship between humans, animals, and the world.
Official channels of Hartmut Kiewert:
- Instagram: no official profile found
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- Website: https://hartmutkiewert.de/
